Mama Grizzly

I've tried very hard to avoid talking about Sarah Palin. My hope has been that if we just ignore her, maybe she'll go away. There is nothing in her background to suggest that she has the education or experience to be president. Before she was governor, she was the mayor of Wasilla, a town with about 5,500 people at the time of the 2000 census (Narberth had about 4,200 and Lower Merion had close to 60,000 according to that same census). She served less than one full term as governor of Alaska, a state that has about half the number of residents that Philadelphia has. She seems sometimes to have trouble distinguishing truth from fiction (remember the Bridge to Nowhere, Troopergate, the oil pipeline, and the firing of Wasilla's police chief?). If you ever listened to one of her speeches, you quickly realized that she complains a lot, but she never has specific suggestions to fix policies with which she finds fault. But maybe I've been deluding myself because it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the reality that Palin is running for president and that she has a base of supporters who seem willing to pretend that she's qualified for the job.

The October issue of Vanity Fair has an in-depth profile of Sarah Palin by Michal Joseph Gross. It is not flattering and, in fact, some might say it's a little scary. It's a long article, but it's well worth reading.